Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land

By Mark Braverman

with Foreword by Walter Brueggemann

Synergy Books: Austin, Texas; $16.95, 416 pages

www.SynergyBooks.net

Reviewed by SAM BAHOUR

Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land by Mark Braverman is a courageous book, filled with urgency and hope. In the expanding library of literature that seeks to shine a rational light on the ever-deteriorating situation in Palestine and Israel, Braverman’s contribution has a very particular and useful focus. It speaks personally and intimately to Jews and Christians about the interconnectedness of the roles of their respective faith communities (the “fatal embrace”) in the evolution of the ghastly mess in the Holy Land and in what needs to be done to repair it. Along the way, the author demolishes the claim that facing up to the devastation wrought by the Zionist enterprise is somehow anti-Semitic.

The book is remarkable for its deft interweaving of the personal and the political in Braverman’s account of his journey of understanding, an account which moves forward or backward in time as required but remains coherent and clear. The author does not lecture at us; he recounts, and describes, and discloses, and considers-and gradually disarms us. He shares vivid accounts of the people he has met in Palestine and Israel as well as key insights from books he has read and conferences he has attended; we meet theologians and activists and farmers and historians and politicians and journalists he has talked and prayed and wept with. We see and hear how these encounters cumulatively functioned to change his understanding of the issues. He gently but inexorably deconstructs, along with his own developing insights, many common misconceptions about Israel and Palestine, Zionism versus Judaism, post-war Christian theology and the still-developing Jewish-Christian dialogue, the dynamic of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and the grim realities on the ground. He covers topics that have been addressed before in various ways, yet this is an unusually moving book. I attribute its powerful impact to Braverman’s compassionate yet rigorous mode of analysis and his refusal to be cowed into glossing over the realities he observes with his own eyes in order to appease or comfort any of the usual stakeholders in the discourse on this subject.

Practising Christians and observant Jews will find Fatal Embrace extremely helpful thanks to its in-depth treatment of the nuances as well as the broad landscape of Christian-Jewish relations since World War II and the implications for the Holy Land, then and now. The book’s analysis of the interplay of religion and politics in the context of policy formulation and decision-making about Israel and Palestine, in the USA and elsewhere, will also interest secular readers and those who are neither Christian nor Jewish.

Braverman is unequivocal in his judgment that Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestine, which he portrays throughout with brutal honesty, is also destroying Israel itself. His urgent call for more effective interfaith and diplomatic intervention from outsiders is clearly aimed at rescuing Israelis as well as Palestinians. Just one example, quoting from something he wrote in 2008: “Israel’s policy, remarkably consistent and relentless…, to obtain complete political and economic control of all of Palestine, is killing Israel-its young people, its economy, its soul, its very future.” In the book’s final chapter, “A Call to Action,” he recounts a brief story about a Palestinian colleague’s eight-year-old daughter who, gazing at the towering concrete separation wall by the side of the road she was driving along with her mother between Jerusalem and Ramallah, turned to her mom “and asked, ‘Mommy, why do they make the Jews live behind that wall?’”

The other remarkable quality of this book is the extent to which Braverman, while never stepping out of his Jewish selfhood, is able to enfold and integrate Christian scripture and the works of Christian thinkers and synthesize from all those thoughts and texts one moving insight after another, which he then shares with us in his own, personal and Jewish way:

“If Israel is to survive, it must change… [and we] outside of Israel who are locked in this embrace with the Holy Land must change also. The path to that change is articulated in the Gospel of Mark: ‘Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister.’ This powerful principle is echoed by Israeli peace activist Nurit Peled-Elhanan: ‘My people are those who seek peace.’ If Israel is to survive-if, indeed, the Jewish people itself is to survive-we must decide to join the community of humankind” and cease clinging to our chosenness as God’s elect, he concludes.

His bottom line: “There is no viable future for the Jewish people unless and until we can acknowledge the suffering that we have caused and open ourselves to sharing the land with the Palestinians. It is the path that beckons us if we are to escape from the prison of our separateness and self-absorption… [The] Palestinian people represent the other that we must join with in order to join humanity” and come out from behind our wall.

In his recap of the book’s main thrust, Braverman itemizes as follows: “solving this conflict and [achieving] a stable, lasting peace” is “a just, moral, and urgent cause”; “peace will not come without justice”; “politics have failed to bring about such a resolution”; and “it is time to reframe the interfaith dialogue” because inaction is not an option. The book offers a thoughtful selection of useful resources and links in the appendices, plus a list of references and an index.

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business development consultant from Youngstown, Ohio living in the Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994) and may be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.

What if the very idea of enemies is killing us? Could we redesign the way we see the world, the way we view each other, to shift the paradigm and make the notion of "enemies" obsolete? Maybe it is already obsolete?

Yes! That is the basic premise of this original, mixed-genre work written in a conversational, reader-friendly style: The whole idea of enemies, along with the worldview it represents, is on the way to being abandoned. The evidence is overwhelming that we are ready for a different paradigm, a different approach. Our job now is to look around and connect the dots. In a lively and entertaining way, this book helps us to do that.

First comes an engaging overview of the central theme and its implications, followed by a vivid local illustration (the mess in Israel and Palestine). Next, there are compelling first- person accounts of living "behind the lines," and finally a Reader's Toolbox for adopting a No More Enemies orientation yourself, today.

Read the book, connect the dots for yourself, and help move us closer to a post-enemies era. No More Enemies is poised to become a global movement. Everyone on earth is invited to join.

Author Deb Reich is a writer and translator in Israel and Palestine. She has lived in New York, Wadi Ara, Abu Ghosh, Karkur, Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and Jerusalem, among other places.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Position of the Local Palestinian Christian community on Restrictions on Religious Rights (and especially during Holy Week)

Dear friends,

The Palestinian Christian initiative Kairos Palestine has issued a statement spelling out the position of the Palestinian Christian community concerning Israeli imposed restrictions on religious rights, especially during Holy Week.

The statement notes that “for Christians, Holy Week in Jerusalem has a special spiritual connection.” It says that the various gathering points to which pilgrims from all over the world journey, namely the Old City, its gates and roads, the Mount of Olives, Via Dolorosa and The Holy Sepulchre Church, are equally important to the Palestinian Christians of the West Bank and Gaza.

The statement underlines the strong desire of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza “to join their Jerusalemite Christian brothers and sisters in the liturgical events leading to the resurrection, the holiest celebration in Christianity”.

The statement points out that “in every country that respects (and practices) freedom of worship, they do so without “restrictions from the governing authorities”. It proceeds to bemoan the fact that the occupying power has denied free access to Holy places of worship to both Christians and Muslims on several important occasions over the last decade.

This discriminatory and restrictive policy by Israel allows only 8000 pilgrims and few hundreds of locals to enter the city on Holy Fire Saturday. The Holy Sepulchre Church and other crucial religious sites are rendered “off limits for Christians through a complex network of walls, checkpoints, and security apparatuses”.

Traditionally, Palestinian Christians welcome The Holy Light seated on the roof of the Patriarchate and at the Church of Saint Jacob, adjoining the Holy Sepulchre. This religious tradition is something they are unwilling to forfeit because it is a violation of a fundamental human rights and a restriction on their right to religious freedom. It further upsets a centuries old tradition for the Palestinian Christians.

Kairos Palestine decries this unjust and one-sided policy which compels Christians and Muslims to apply for permits to enter while Jews continue to have free access. At best, not more than two or three thousand Palestinian Christians will receive entry permits. The permit system instated by Israel is in obvious violation of various Human Rights, international covenants and treaties to which Israel is a signatory.

Kairos Palestine rejects “the imposition of a permit/quota system to access our churches and shrines”. The Kairos statement points to how “the heavy presence of Israeli Police and Military forces prevents Christians from accessing the Holy Sepulchre Church and the Old City” thus disturbing the spiritual atmosphere of Easter”. The presence of Israeli commanders in and around the Tomb of Christ under the pretext of security is unacceptable.

The Kairos statement states that such actions taken against Palestinian Christians are an affront not only to them, the first and oldest Christian community in the world, but also to Christianity as a whole.

The Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum urges churches around the world to support the call of Kairos Palestine which invites “all our leaders, friends, brothers and sisters around the world to continue exerting pressure on Israel, to end its military occupation on this land and to respect international law and human rights”. In terms of practical measures, Kairos Palestine urges:

Church leaders not to submit and accept the conditions that deprive indigenous and international worshippers of the joy of celebrating Easter.

Letters to political representatives to pressure Israel by political means to end its restrictions on the freedom to religion in general and with regard to the Easter celebrations in particular.

Letters of protest to Israeli ambassadors in your countries complaining against such actions.

Friday, April 08, 2011

LONDON — We have a new verb, “to Goldstone.” Its meaning: To make a finding, and then partially retract it for uncertain motive. Etymology: the strange actions of a respected South African Jewish jurist under intense pressure from Israel, the U.S. Congress and world Jewish groups.

Richard Goldstone is an author of the “Goldstone Report,” an investigation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009. It found that Israel had engaged in a “deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population,” for which responsibility lay “in the first place with those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw the operations.” It said both Israel and Hamas may have committed crimes against humanity in a conflict that saw a ratio of about 100 Palestinian dead (including many children) for every one Israeli.

Now Goldstone’s volte-face appears in the form of a Washington Post op-ed. It’s a bizarre effort. He says his report would have been different “if I had known then what I know now.” The core difference the judge identifies is that he’s now convinced Gaza “civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy.”

His shift is attributed to the findings of a follow-up report by a U.N. committee of independent experts chaired by Mary McGowan Davis, a former New York judge, and what is “recognized” therein about Israeli military investigations. Well, Goldstone and I have not been reading the same report.

McGowan Davis is in fact deeply critical of those Israeli investigations — their tardiness, leniency, lack of transparency and flawed structure. Her report — stymied by lack of access to Israel, Gaza or the West Bank — contains no new information I can see that might buttress a change of heart.

On the core issue of intentionality, it declares: “There is no indication that Israel has opened investigations into the actions of those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw Operation Cast Lead.”

It says Israel has not adequately answered the Goldstone Report’s allegations about the “design and implementation of the Gaza operations” or its “objectives and targets.” Victims on both sides, McGowan Davis argues, can expect “no genuine accountability and no justice.”

In short there is a mystery here. Goldstone has moved but the evidence has not, really. That raises the issue of whether the jurist buckled under pressure so unrelenting it almost got him barred from his grandson’s bar mitzvah in South Africa. Is this more a matter of judicial cojones than coherence?

The fact that Hamas has not conducted any investigation into its unconscionable attacks on southern Israel — rockets and mortars still fall — is appalling if unsurprising. Goldstone makes much of this. But it does not change the nature of what Israel did in Gaza, nor allay the McGowan Davis concerns about Israel’s investigative failings.

Goldstone, a Jew who takes his Jewishness seriously, has been pilloried by Israel. He fell afoul, as perhaps no other, of the siege mentality of a nation controlling the lives of millions of Palestinians but unsure what to do with them or with the world’s growing disavowal of this corrosive dominion that humiliates its victims and eats into the soul of its masters.

The charges cascaded: He was a “self-hating Jew,” a hypocrite, a traitor. For Alan Dershowitz he was “despicable.” For Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Goldstone was up there with the Iranian nuclear program and Hamas rockets as one of Israel’s “three major strategic challenges.”

Theories already abound on the Goldstone psyche. It was an emotional meeting last year with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies that set him on the retraction road. No, it was a bruising debate last month at Stanford University. No, it was a rightist Israeli minister telling him his report fueled those who knifed West Bank settlers. He was “broken,” one friend suggests.

I don’t know. I asked Goldstone. He responded in an e-mail that he was declining “media interviews.” I do know this: The contortions of his about-face are considerable.

Goldstone expresses confidence that the Israeli officer responsible for the killing of 29 members of the al-Samouni family will be properly punished. Yet the McGowan Davis report is critical of this investigation and notes that “no decision had been made as to whether or not the officer would stand trial.”

It also notes that more than a third of the 36 Gaza incidents identified in the Goldstone Report “are still unresolved or unclear.” There have been just two convictions — and the one for credit card theft brought a more severe sentence than use of a Palestinian child as a human shield! And this gives Goldstone confidence?

Israel is celebrating what it calls a vindication. It is preparing to welcome Goldstone. It is demanding nullification of the report, even though Goldstone is only one of its four authors. Meanwhile the facts remain: the 1,400 plus Palestinian dead, the 13 Israelis killed, the devastation, the Hamas rockets — and the need for credible investigation of what all evidence suggests were large-scale, indiscriminate, unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza, as well as Hamas’ crimes against civilians.

Jerusalem, April 7, 2011 -- The World Bank published today its report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), a forum of donors to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which will meet in Brussels on April 13. The report examines two key areas critical to the functioning of a Palestinian state: The strength of PA institutions and the prospects for sustainable Palestinian economic growth.

The authors reaffirm their assessment, conveyed at the previous meeting of the AHLC that “if the PA maintains its performance in institution-building and delivery of public services, it is well-positioned for the establishment of a state at any point in the near future.” They report a further improvement in the quality of the PA’s public financial management (PFM) and note that education and health in the West Bank and Gaza (WB&G) are highly developed, comparing favorably to the performance of countries in the region as well as globally. They assert that while “significant reforms still lie ahead for the PA” they are no different than “than those facing other middle income countries.”

The World Bank’s assessment of the sustainability of economic growth in the WB&G remains bleak. The report emphasizes that the estimate of 9.3 percent for 2010 “reflects recovery from the very low base reached during the second intifada, is still mainly confined to the non-tradable sector and is primarily donor-driven.” They note that aid is what keeps many Palestinians above the poverty line, particularly in Gaza, where unemployment is still 37.4 percent and a “staggering” 71 percent of the population benefited from some form of social assistance in 2009.

The authors argue that sustainable growth is dependent on a “vibrant” private sector, but that is unlikely to emerge “while Israeli restrictions on access to natural resources and markets remain in place, and as long as investors are deterred by the increased cost of business associated with the closure regime.” They urge the PA, however, to continue to lay the infrastructure enabling “private sector growth when the Palestinian state is established”, pointing to the need to adopt “a coherent trade strategy” and institute “an appropriate border management and customs system.”

"Rebuilding the Palestinian economy's productive capacity is a priority,” said Mariam J. Sherman, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza. “While we commend the solid performance of Palestinian institutions, we are concerned about the prospect for continued economic growth. Action is required by all parties -- Israel, the PA and the donor community -- but the closure regime remains the most substantial obstacle to Palestinian economic viability.”

Sam Bahour - Photo

About Me

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American based in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine and is managing partner of Applied Information Management (AIM), which specializes in business development with a niche focus on start-ups and providing executive counsel.
Bahour was instrumental in the establishment of two publicly traded firms: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Center. He is currently an independent director at the Arab Islamic Bank, advisory board member of the Open Society Foundations’ Arab Regional Office, and completed a full term as a Board of Trustees member and treasurer at Birzeit University. In addition to his presidential appointment to serve as a general assembly member of the Palestine Investment Fund, Palestine’s $1B sovereign wealth fund, Bahour serves in various capacities in several community organizations, including co-founder and chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy, board member of Just Vision in New York, board member and policy adviser at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and secretariat member of the Palestine Strategy Group.